LOL - actually I looked and this Oct trip will be the 10th x.

Things we like best about Regent:

1) Open seating for dinner - dine whenever you want with whoever you want (or by yourselves) - although I believe that Seabourn & Silversea also does this. But some other (somewhat lesser lines even Crystal does not).

2) Totally all-inclusive (we usually take a credit for the "free" airfare) including all tips, all drinks (even alcoholic but excluding "super premium stuff") the entire time and for now even most Shore Excursions (except for some specialty ones). Spa charges are not included of course. Even though we're not really "drinkers" its nice to know that your trip cost is pretty much set before the trip. I find it annoying if you have to sign for a soft drink or bottled water.

3) Cabin size is pretty spacious. We've not been on the Navigator (but even that ship has pretty good sized cabins although not all have balconies). On the Voyager & Mariner all cabins have balconies and the total cabin size is 300-350 sq ft - so we generally book one category above the lowest category available and the cabin itself is basically the same as those 5-6 categories above. This coupled with 2 above makes the difference in cost to the "mass market" lines (where you'd have to book near the top level to get the same type of cabin) negligible. Also, the biggest ships Voyager & Mariner won't have more than 750 passengers so any "lines" are negligible - I can't imagine being on a ship with 2000+ other people.

We've ended up "stuck" to Regent pretty much because in recent years, we've pretty much cruised with a group that our agent put together (this year's trip is about 60 people) if the itinerary is interesting and mostly the group is centered around Regent and also the perks of their loyalty program helps (we get 1 hour of telephone calls & unlimited internet for free - and that can really add up quick - last cruise was 10 days and the internet fee would have been $400 if we had to pay). Not opposed to Seabourn & Silversea at all though. My impression is that Silversea is very similar to Regent while Seabourn tends to have smaller ships.